


Dawn of the Air(Zombie)Wolf

by elistaire



Category: Airwolf
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-29
Updated: 2013-03-29
Packaged: 2017-12-06 20:09:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/739618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elistaire/pseuds/elistaire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Airwolf is sent on a rescue mission--directly into the heart of a zombie infested compound!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dawn of the Air(Zombie)Wolf

**Author's Note:**

  * For [debirlfan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/debirlfan/gifts).



"Michael, you've got to be kidding," Stringfellow Hawke said. He glanced to his friend, Dominic, who just gave him a wide-eyed shrug. It was dawn at Hawke's cabin on the lake, and Archangel and Marella had just flown in and landed on his dock, with chips on their shoulders and attaché cases in their hands. 

"I wish I was," Michael replied with a grim expression. He gestured to Marella and she stepped forward with a thick file. She placed it on the table and slid out a packet of photographs. 

"These are satellite photos of the compound," she said perfunctorily. Hawke moved to stand next to her, after giving Michael a raised eyebrow, and then he refocused on the intelligence Marella was giving. "Taken eighteen hours ago. The complex is a research facility. Biomedical."

"Don't you mean biochemical?" Hawke asked. In his experience, chemical warfare was never far behind.

Marella threw a quick glance to Michael, but she answered the question. "Yes. But its main function was biomedical. Then, sometime between twenty-four and twenty hours ago, we received a distress call from the head scientist. Dr. Jessica Pascal. She and at least six others are trapped here." She tapped at one corner of the complex, outlining with her finger the exact space. 

"So this is a rescue mission," Hawke said, feeling slightly less peevish. He didn't mind so much going in to save lives. It was when the FIRM asked him to be deadly and destructive that he got pissed. He was more than capable of pulling those jobs, but it didn't mean he liked to. 

"Mostly," Marella hedged. 

"What do we have to rescue the scientists _from_?" Dominic asked, and as usual, his questions cut to the heart of the matter. He had been leaning on his arms at the end of the table, studying the photographs. Now he was looking around the room, waiting for an answer. 

Marella looked uncomfortable and Michael looked grim. "The other scientists," Michael finally said. 

"What?" Hawke asked, and Dominic echoed him. 

Marella pressed on with efficiency. "The project they were working on involved vaccines _against_ biological warfare. There was a breach in one of the hot labs, and an infectious agent got out. The other scientists were compromised, and now they are a danger to the scientists that aren't infected."

Hawke shook his head. "How do you know all the scientists aren't infected?" He gestured to Dom and himself. "Neither of us wants to get this thing. And we sure as hell don't want to bring it back."

"Yeah," Dom said. "And how come you guys aren't taking care of this situation yourself. How come you need us?"

Michael didn't flinch. "We are taking care of it. In four hours, they're going in to raze the entire complex. Survivors and all. A complete loss."

Dominic gasped. "But the scientists!"

"Collateral damage," Marella said.

Hawke glared at the two agents dressed impeccably in white. He hated FIRM protocols. "That's seven people. We'll have to leave some hardware behind, or else we'll be too heavy."

"Don't get too close," Marella said, with a tap again to the photos. "The infected individuals are aggressive, and bullets don't slow them down."

Hawke frowned and held up a hand. The entire conversation paused. "The truth, Michael. No more beating around the bush."

Michael shook his head, and gave a beseeching expression and then a quick nod to his assistant. As usual, Marella finally answered his question. 

"The infectious agent doesn't just make people sick. It wasn't supposed to be a weapon by itself. It was supposed to be an enhancing agent."

"A super soldier serum?" Dominic asked. 

"Essentially yes," Michael admitted. 

"That's only one aspect of the infection, however," Marella cut back in. "The other is that the individual becomes increasingly aggressive, impervious to pain and injury. Essentially the only way to stop one is to destroy the brain, or to burn the body to cinders."

"That's monstrous!" Dominic said. "You've created a nightmare! They're like...like zombies." He shook his head and gestured with his hands, pleading uselessly after the fact. "How could you?"

"Neither of us was aware of the effort until yesterday," Michael said. "This wasn't one of my projects."

"So, let me get this straight," Hawke said. "You want us to go in there, with half the hardware we usually carry, pick up seven people who might be infected, put ourselves at risk, and possibly let out an infection? Hell no!"

"But, String," Dominic said. "Those seven scientists!"

"They knew the risks when they signed on," Hawke said. He felt differently about trying to rescue people that had knowingly developed such an appalling biological warfare agent. He sure as hell wasn't going to bring Dominic into any such danger. 

Michael sighed. "We need those scientists, Hawke. We have reason to believe one of them sold the research to the other side, and that now we're at risk of being targeted with our own agent. If we don't get those scientists before the FIRM cleanses the compound, our best shot at developing any kind of immunity or counter-agent is back to square one."

Hawke glared at Michael and ground his back teeth. "So if Dom and I don't go rescue the scientists, we don't have any defense against the entire country being attacked."

"In a nutshell."

"I hate your nutshells."

"So do I." Michael adjusted his glasses minutely, giving Hawke a discreet moment to absorb the information and ramifications, and Hawke knew he was waiting. 

"Fine," Hawke said. "We'll do it." He looked to Dominic, who gave him a nod that he was also in. 

~

"We've got one hour before the FIRM's cleanup crew gets here, String," Dom said from the back seat of Airwolf. 

"I know," Hawke said. He was concentrating on getting them to the complex as quickly as possible without burning too much fuel. They'd need it to be able to carry the seven survivors out, and he and Dom had been very reticent to unload too much firepower. In fact, Hawke had actually factored in that he could start destroying part of the complex prior to picking up their cargo. 

"Complex coming up," Dom informed him. 

"Give me a heat detection scan."

"Got it," Dom said and Hawke could hear him competently pushing the controls in the back bay. "Only three forms where Marella told us they'd be. And about twenty scattered everywhere else. I don't think they know where the scientists are holed up. At least, they don't look like they're trying to get to them. String," Dom said with a hitch in his voice, "they're cooler than the others. By about twenty degrees."

"Some super soldier serum," Hawke said. "All they managed to do was make a nightmare come true. Are you sure there are only three?" Hawke asked.

"Positive. Either four of them went missing, or they told us the wrong number to start from."

"To make us leave some ordinance at home," Hawke guessed. "They're manipulating us."

"As usual," Dom put in. 

"Doesn't matter," Hawke said. "Since we didn't leave it at home. Let's get the survivors, and evaluate then. We'll have to play it their way for the moment." He paused, then said, "In the meantime, bring the Hellfires online."

"Online," Dom acknowledged after a moment. "You don't believe that the FIRM is going to come in and burn the place down, do you?"

"No, I don't," Hawke said. "And destroy all that research just to take out a bunch of infected scientists? No."

"Why send us in at all, then?" Dom asked. "I don't get it."

"I don't either, but this mission stinks to high heaven of something." Hawke thumbed the controls in his hands. "Let's get things roasting, and set down near the building."

"Roger that," Dom said. 

Hawke chose his locations carefully. He needed to do maximum damage with the fewest missiles, but still leave the survivors all their escape routes. He launched two of the rockets. When the farthest buildings were burning merrily, he set Airwolf down in the clearing nearest to the door that the survivors could exit from. "Any movement?" he asked. 

"Negative," Dom said. "They're in there, but they aren't coming out."

"Aw, hell," Hawke swore. He turned on the loud speaker system. "We're here to rescue you. Come out. Repeat. We're here to rescue you." He waited. "Dom?"

"Nothing," Dom said. "Geez! Bogey at three o'clock, String!" 

Hawke swiveled his head and saw what could only be...a zombie. The figure actually shambled. It's clothes were rent and torn, and it was filthy and bloody. It looked ravenous. "Guess they weren't lying about that," he said. "Chain guns."

"Chain guns online," Dom said. 

Hawke hit the trigger and the figure went down in a spray of bullets. Thirty millimeter rounds did an awful lot of damage to soft tissue, including to the head area. 

"Sweet heaven above," Dom said softly. "I thought they were exaggerating. But this is serious." 

"I'm going in," Hawke declared. "And get them out. Shoot anything that comes into the clearing."

"Right." Dom sounded a little shaky, but Hawke knew that he would handle it. He always did. 

Hawke climbed out of the helicopter and ducked, running for it. He had a service weapon on his leg, but it seemed like a pea shooter when dealing with an enemy that wouldn't go down without a headshot. He got to the door and tried the handle, but it was locked. He banged on it. "Time to get out of here," he yelled, which he knew would be difficult to hear over the rotor and engine noise. After a long moment, the door opened a crack and a woman in a lab coat peered out. "Let's go!" Hawke yelled at her. 

She took in Airwolf and Hawke and nodded. "Thank god," she said. She motioned behind her and two other women wearing lab coats followed her out. 

Hawke led them back Airwolf. He let out a sigh of relief when he shut the door and they were inside. He flipped switches and lifted Airwolf into the air. 

"What the hell is going on?" he asked. The three scientists all looked at each other, grim and frightened. " Dr. Pascal?" he asked, barking her name out as an order. "there were supposed to be seven of you." He kept Airwolf level. 

"They were infected," Pascal said, her voice shook as she spoke. "They didn't make it."

Hawke narrowed his eyes at her. "The leak. How much information was sold?"

"Sold?" Dr. Pascal asked, and then gave a short bitter laugh. "We never had an intelligence leak. We were the ones who bought the information from _them_ and were trying to duplicate it. We never got to the point where we were making any headway on our own!"

He gave a disgusted noise. "Dom? Locations on the twenty forms." Hawke made a decision. He'd been sent in to rescue, and he'd done that. Now he was going to make damn sure that as much of the science that could be destroyed was burnt and salted to smoke and memories. 

In all likelihood, the scientific data was duplicated elsewhere, and that meant they wouldn't come after Hawke for destroying it. But he could take care of the infectious agent. 

"Done," Dom said, and the coordinates came up on the inside screen of Hawke's visor. "Hellfire missiles online."

Hawke used three more Hellfires, sending them into the heart of the complex. He took Airwolf out of range of the resulting explosions. "Copperhead."

"Online," Dom confirmed. 

Hawke took Airwolf even higher and farther away. Four of them was overkill, but Hawke did it anyway. "How many forms left?"

Dom snorted. "I think you got them all," he said. "But the thermals are off the chart, so I can't be sure."

Hawke stared at the complex. It was an inferno of flame and heat. The missiles had done massive amounts of damage and had set off more explosions as electrical systems and generators overheated and the chain reaction of destruction continued. Still, Hawke hovered his thumb over the trigger button for another missile. He never wanted to doubt the outcome. He fired one more Copperhead, and it was the tipping point. The entire compound lit up like a flare, arcing fire into the sky, and black smoked billowed out. 

Hawke cast a glance sideways to the scientists, and Dr. Pascal was staring out the front to the carnage before her. She glanced to Hawke. "Good," she said. "No one should ever try to repeat that again. Ever."

From the back bay, Dom spoke softly. "It's over, String. Nothing could survive that. Time to go home."

Hawke turned Airwolf around, and headed away.


End file.
